Attention all shipping

Oxfordshire artist Jane Tomlinson has won a prize for her original painting of a map of the shipping forecast, the much-loved daily weather report produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The British Cartographic Society, which champions the art and science of mapmaking throughout the world, awarded the John C Bartholomew Award for Thematic Mapping to Jane at its annual conference earlier this year.

Explaining her inspiration for the painting Jane said, “I’ve always loved the stark factual poetry of the broadcast, and since I painted this map I’ve discovered that the shipping forecast seems to be embedded in the DNA of every Brit. It’s a part of who we are – weather-obsessed, word-loving islanders. I wanted to capture the spirit of the shipping forecast and record all those magical words in their rough geographical position.”